Join the call for quality, affordable child care

The $10aDay plan is on its way!

Child care is regularly either the first or second biggest expense families face according to our living wage calculations. For many low-wage families, quality and affordable child care is just not something that they are able to afford. Many have no option but to leave the workforce or to use unregulated care.

The Living Wage for Families Campaign supports the $10aDay child care plan for BC. Initially introduced in 2011, the $10aDay plan has been updated to reflect current realities and government policies. We're on our way, but there's much more to be done to achieve affordable, accessible child care options for all BC families.

The $10aDay Plan charts the way to build the system and make quality affordable services the common daily experience for children and families across British Columbia. The Plan has the support of 51 local governments, 31 school districts, community organizations, unions, businesses and individuals representing more than 2 million British Columbians.

Recommendations for 2019

The 2019 edition of the $10aDay plan highlights a number of recommendations for the provincial government:

Move child care to the Ministry of Education.

Create a child care capital budget to build new publicly owned child care facilities in partnership with school districts, local governments, and non-profits.

Accelerate the expansion of Universal $10 a day Child Care Prototype Sites, ensuring they serve all regions of the province.

Accelerate the wage enhancements it provides to ECEs and develop and implement a provincial wage grid.

Ensure that the Fee Reduction Initiative grows at a rapid rate so that fees come down for all families in licensed programs, thus reducing the need for subsidies.

Increase ECE educational opportunities and access to public post-secondary institutions.

Can we afford it?

Quebec’s child care system returns $1.05 to its government for every $1 invested – and Ottawa recovers 44 cents, even with no direct investment. The returns continue to grow.

Phasing a universal child care plan in over 10 years would allow for families to see immediate relief from high fees while allowing the government to scale up the plan (and costs) in stages.

Once the plan is fully phased in, it would generate an estimated $1.3 billion in revenues to the provincial and federal governments. This would be from the boost in economic activity from parents who are able to return to work once lower fees and increased child care spaces allow them to enter the workforce.